The History Channel's Ancient Aliens offered up an episode on "Underground Aliens" that was first broadcast in November 2010. I did not see this episode until it was rerun tonight, and what I saw disgusted me. The show featured a lengthy segment on an alleged cave in Ecuador that Erich von Daniken claimed had been carved by lasers and was filled with gold tablets written in extraterrestrial language--proof positive of alien encounters. Despite von Daniken's claim in his 1973 book The Gold of the Gods that he visited the cave, remarkably no evidence of the tablets ever emerged.

What disgusted me is that von Daniken was on TV in 2010 (repeated in 2011 without correction) pimping this story more than three decades after he admitted it was all a lie. I covered this story in The Cult of Alien Gods (2005). Here are few excerpts:

[A] journalist, Gavin Souter, confronted von Däniken about this [lack of evidence] and asked where his proof was. Von Däniken pointed to a Spanish-language newspaper article about the cave: “I think it says something about metal plates.” It did not.

But this was not evidence that von Däniken was lying. It was only one archaeologist’s opinion, after all. So in 1976, Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, led an expedition into Ecuador to verify or refute von Däniken’s claims. After some fruitless searching, he returned with the conclusion that there was nothing in the Ecuadorian jungles except jungle. Von Däniken replied that Armstrong was clearly confused and had searched the wrong caves, though he would not say where the right caves were. Nevertheless, newspaper headlines proclaimed “Däniken Unmasked!” and “The Charlatan Makes a Fool of Himself.”

Finally, a British expedition attempted to provide a definitive answer. Their trip to the caves found no trace of von Däniken’s gold library, only some evidence of early, primitive habitation in caves that were utterly ordinary, not laser-hewn perfection. Von Daniken finally admitted that the caves he described were not real, that his evidence was not real, that Gold of the Gods was not true. He said in his defense that because he was writing “popular” works for mass consumption, not scientific treatises, he could take “poetic license” with the truth. In short, he admitted to what amounted to fraud. Of course, few of his fans bothered to listen; the idea was more important than the man, and the idea meant everything to them.

According to the Mammoth Encyclopedia of the Unsolved, Von Daniken's co-explorer, Juan Moricz, denied that von Daniken had ever visited the cave, prompting von Daniken to concede that his account was pure fiction--at least until his fabrication had been forgotten. His escape clause--now he no longer claims to have visited the caves, only to know they exist "somewhere" and turning his own fantastic invention into a supposedly ancient myth.

Nevertheless, the History Channel apparently cares nothing for "facts" and allows its talking heads to spout any lies they want without even bothering to keep the lies consistent with the talking heads' previous lies. Even a terrible documentary series like Ancient Aliens ought to know better than that. That Ancient Aliens quoted Gold of the Gods, citing it by name, is unconscionable since its very author was forced to repudiate it. The History Channel should, once again, be ashamed.

people say they see things and you can be with other people and some will not see the same thing even though they were there. Does that make the observation wrong. Ive seen things in my lifetime that nobody has ever seen. Just because somebody has not seen them doesnt make them false. Maybe minds are being controlled so some see things and some dont. Maybe not every bodies mind cant be controlled. I am left handed and i cant be hypnotized i tried a hard as i can. Maybe left handed people cant be hypnotized. The last Presidents of the USA have been left handed.
Do you believe there were never giants? Do you believe that Enoch and Methusula were not real.
I have been in horrific accidents and i have felt the hand of god keep me from being hurt.
That doesnt mean that there are not other beings with greater technology roming the universe.
I look at some of the photos of deep space and some look like a picture of a moment in time in a key hole or a big glob of something eating something and leaving total blackness.
Ask yourself are we the only life in the galaxy/universe/cosmos very narrow minded, How much of the scriptures of all the religions were changed to to keep control of the masses. There is life evrywhere. I just hope we dont destroy the world with the oil being pumped up from he. Oil is not a gift from god. It is creating everything negative in this world. It comes from Hell, Catches fire, creates diseases that cant be cured and creates mutations along with cancer. I read somewhere that the plastic itself is tryng to make life if it hasent already. We know it causes mutations.
It wont happen over - night but clean energy id needed and all governments need to support it especially the greedy ones.

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I Speak The Truth

7/11/2016 07:00:07 am

Personally, I believe in the possibility of intelligent life out there in space. That being the case, I believe it is indeed possible that an intelligent race may have visited our world or our ancestors at some point, potentially even be among us now, studying us as we would a primitive tribe.

That said, I believe it is an insult to the accomplishments and achievements of our ancestors to falsify and knowingly mislead viewers for the sake of ratings.

Shame on the history channel.

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asogan

11/29/2013 06:32:20 pm

I agree. There is a lot going on out there. Our minds are based on human concepts and that is how we see things. We do not even know how life forms on this planet perceive us. But because we kill them and eat them, we reason that we are superior to them. What a load of bull. Our narrow mindedness allows us to dismiss that which we cannot comprehend. Have a open mind and you will grow. Close your mind and your knowledge is in the bin

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asogan

11/29/2013 06:42:05 pm

I do not wish to subscribe to your site. I did not realise that is was a subscription service. You need not notify me of anything. Thank you

It's not a subscription service. You must have selected the "Notify me of new comments" box at the bottom.

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Ray Strong

12/7/2013 05:06:53 pm

Thank you Mr. Colavito. Didn't know about these later facts. Keep up the good work. It's always good to let the mind wander, but we have to keep our heads about us.

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History Buff

2/1/2014 07:23:03 pm

Thank you from me too, Jason. I remember when "Chariot of the Gods" was all the rage. :)
I appreciate your excellent writing and I am learning.
Despite the fact that the History Channel thinks ancient aliens, monstrous myths, and Scott Wolter's pet theories are somehow in the realm of historical facts.
Keep up the good work.

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johnny liono

8/11/2014 06:18:18 am

mr "timedomainreflectometer" wats da point?? i undrstand dat we ought to keep an open mind but our mind isn't a man-hole sir somtyms we ought to keep it shut from "crazy garbage invasion"..

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Tlahuicole

7/24/2015 01:21:46 pm

If you don't like the show shut the hell up about it, nobody likes a hater.

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Tlahuicole

7/24/2015 01:29:41 pm

I apologize for my language in my previous comment but seriously you can find better things to do than debunk hardwork. Oh and whether Ancient Aliens are real or not their theorists are making positive progress while you are making negative.

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Eddy

9/14/2015 03:17:30 am

I'm stunned at your impertinence. How can you, some random guy, claim that the history channel is wrong? 1. The history channel has "history" in its name whereas you do not. 2. The history channel has cool graphics, sound effects, and pro voice actors. No offense but your site is pretty dull in comparison. Also, as previously mentioned in comments, how can you prove the author in question did not see the caves and magic plates and then said plates and cave were not hidden from publicity hungry astronauts through alien cloaking technology? Neil Armstrong was obviously the lead in a government coverup since he no longer was busy acting in fake moon landings.

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I Speak The Truth

7/11/2016 06:39:00 am

Your post is so funny.

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About Me

I'm an author and editor who has published on a range of topics, including archaeology, science, and horror fiction. There's more about me in the About Jason tab.